Over 70 million players are now registered to play League of Legends, announces Riot Games, saying this is more than double the number of users the game boasted as of November 2011, adding that the number of monthly active users has nearly tripled in that time. Here are the impressive numbers: "Riot Games have now amassed 70 million registered summoner names – more than double compared to November 2011. The volume of monthly active players is almost triple the amount of 2011 coming in at 32 million and 3 million daily peak concurrency. The total amount of hours played a month reaches 1 billion." Since a player population that would qualify as the 19th largest country in the world is hard to put into perspective (though that bit about the countries helps), they have created an infographic to help us comprehend the implications of this.

dota2 has a much more solid base, league of legends is now just a cash crop with dumb shit incessantly being poured in. character after character with the same exact shit and game modes that have no relevance to the overall balancing of the characters for the standard game type.

DOTA 2 might be more generic but in the Lord of the Rings way.. not really a bad thing as it is well refined & presented

cocoreno wrote on Oct 12, 2012, 17:52:Frankly, what shocked me was some additional info I read on Gamasutra:

And thanks to microtransactions for purchasing playable characters and items, League of Legends is also likely generating a lot of revenue from those players -- Ngmoco GM and free-to-play expert Ben Cousins estimates that the core-targeted game grosses $5-10 million every day.

Here is what I don't understand about that quote -- whether is true or false why would you say it? I don't see upside either way...

Yakubs wrote on Oct 12, 2012, 15:14:Kind of hard to understand this viewpoint. LoL's game mechanics are a watered-down version of DotA's. Not sure why you wouldn't want to play the source material rather than a low-budget (which has since become big-budget) knock-off.

Watered-down to you = streamlined to me. I personally don't see denying, multiple shops, animal couriers, and buyable town portals adding all that much to the gameplay. While those things may add a modicum of gameplay depth they also make the game slower and more complicated. There are reasons why LoL overtook DotA and HoN.

Ozmodan wrote on Oct 12, 2012, 15:57:Game is fun, but the players are horrible. Far too many whinney teenagers and preteenagers.

I would go as far as to say this is probably one of the worst groups of players I have ever encountered in any game.

This is why I steered clear of all of these games. Normally, I'd be all over this type of game, but I also like a good community. I don't need to work all day then have some whiny brat chewing me out because I clicked a skill 1 second too early.

Ozmodan wrote on Oct 12, 2012, 15:57:Game is fun, but the players are horrible. Far too many whinney teenagers and preteenagers.

I would go as far as to say this is probably one of the worst groups of players I have ever encountered in any game.

This is why I steered clear of all of these games. Normally, I'd be all over this type of game, but I also like a good community. I don't need to work all day then have some whiny brat chewing me out because I clicked a skill 1 second too early.

Frankly, what shocked me was some additional info I read on Gamasutra:

And thanks to microtransactions for purchasing playable characters and items, League of Legends is also likely generating a lot of revenue from those players -- Ngmoco GM and free-to-play expert Ben Cousins estimates that the core-targeted game grosses $5-10 million every day.

Trevellian wrote on Oct 12, 2012, 15:01:I just thought DOTA2 was underwhelming compared to LoL. Graphically better? Sure. But I like the heroes in LoL more, they feel less generic as weird as that sounds. DOTA seems stuck trying to mimic the Warcraft heroes the original were based on without access to the actual characters.

I've been in DOTA2 beta for awhile and barely touch it because I think LoL is better.

Kind of hard to understand this viewpoint. LoL's game mechanics are a watered-down version of DotA's. Not sure why you wouldn't want to play the source material rather than a low-budget (which has since become big-budget) knock-off.

It's hard to understand that I think the heroes available in DOTA2 are shit and I don't like them compared to the characters I've grown to enjoy in LoL? I don't see where that is complicated.

Ozmodan wrote on Oct 12, 2012, 15:57:Game is fun, but the players are horrible. Far too many whinney teenagers and preteenagers.

I would go as far as to say this is probably one of the worst groups of players I have ever encountered in any game.

Yup..I'll second that...and, you know, it's funny because most times I wouldn't be caught dead in a game such as this but I tried it because a good friend of mine asked me to, he thought it was a good representation of the future of online gaming....

*sigh* yeah...

As to the fight between the two games, why is it that we can't have both exist in the same universe without all the fuckin' bickering about which is better? Let me make it simple for you guys, real quick like...NO ONE FUCKING CARES...seriously, I don't mean that as a knock on you guys, really, I mean that in the end, everyone is going to play whatever the hell they want, regardless of what you say here and what YOU feel. Arguing about it...well, put simply, is pointless. I would have thought PC gamers in the 21st century would have learned that by now! Didn't the whole Mac vs PC, Windows vs Mac argument wear you the hell out yet? GO PLAY WHATEVER GAME YOU ENJOY PLAYING, don't worry what the other guy thinks. Let me ask you, if someone here happens to bring up some point of contention that you actually agree on (god forbid, right?), would that stop you from playing the game because of it? I doubt it, so WHY argue about it? You complain about the whiny teenagers in the game and then come here and emulate their behavior TO A TEE...shut up, play, be happy...

end of line

=-Rigs-=

So full of hate were our eyes, that none of us could see our war would yield countless dead, but never victory. So let us cast arms aside, and like discard our wrath. Thou, in faith, will keep us safe. Whilst we find The Path. - Halo:Contact Harvest

Both are good games, but LoL is a lot more casual than DOTA 2. You can just jump into LoL and have a decent amount of fun. Not so with Dota 2. It's more like a decision to decide to learn to play, an investment of time. In the end, it will be more rewarding, but it takes work to get there. Checkers Vs. Chess, IMO. I have a few hundred hours in LoL, and although I'm in the Dota 2 beta, I'm still debating whether I want to make the time commitment to learn the game.Another major plus to Dota 2 is that everyone has access to all heroes at full power, all the time. LoL you're limited by the current hero pool, trait lines, etc.

And anyone who thinks Valve is too late to the party... ha. Dota 2 is consistently at the top of Steam game stats, and it's not even released yet! Not everyone who wants to play can play.

Trevellian wrote on Oct 12, 2012, 15:01:I just thought DOTA2 was underwhelming compared to LoL. Graphically better? Sure. But I like the heroes in LoL more, they feel less generic as weird as that sounds. DOTA seems stuck trying to mimic the Warcraft heroes the original were based on without access to the actual characters.

I've been in DOTA2 beta for awhile and barely touch it because I think LoL is better.

Kind of hard to understand this viewpoint. LoL's game mechanics are a watered-down version of DotA's. Not sure why you wouldn't want to play the source material rather than a low-budget (which has since become big-budget) knock-off.

I just thought DOTA2 was underwhelming compared to LoL. Graphically better? Sure. But I like the heroes in LoL more, they feel less generic as weird as that sounds. DOTA seems stuck trying to mimic the Warcraft heroes the original were based on without access to the actual characters.

I've been in DOTA2 beta for awhile and barely touch it because I think LoL is better.

I enjoyed DOTA2. Biggest issue I have with it is that I don't have enough time to play. The game requires at least an hour of my time with no interruptions, something that is rare. Still fun though. I've only played maybe a dozen matches and was lucky enough not to get a bunch of shit for sucking.

As for LoL, I signed up but never played. I guess I'm counted in that 70 million.

Valve had a chance to redefine these MOBA games into something FUN. Something as simple as an over the shoulder camera view would have done wonders to change the atmosphere and feel of DOTA2.

Instead they are wasting their time in trying to recreate something that a majority of players do not find entertaining what-so-ever... in a perpetual Beta for a game no one will ever want to buy.

Hmm, care to elaborate what exactly about denying is "boring and stale" ? You just throw out those terms as if they are totally objective assessments about the mechanic itself and representative of the popular sentiment, when in reality it adds another layer of depth and raises the skill ceiling for a game that essentially has only 3-4 active skills per hero.

I'm guessing that at the low-medium skill pub level that you and most of the community plays at, denying makes absolutely 0 difference to the game, and in fact might even hinder your gameplay if you focus on denying instead of last hitting the enemy creep. Either that, or you have played a few games with bots which unfortunately place too much focus on denying(due to the way their AI is scripted) unlike real players who actually focus on other things like poking and harassing their opposing lane player.

With regards to over the shoulder view, I am not a big fan of it, but there is one game that does that (SMITE). I feel that it takes away a lot of strategic depth, overview, team coordination and map awareness that are integral to this type of gameplay. Once you get into over the shoulder mode, it just becomes WOW Arena 2.0.